This invention generally relates to a propfan assembly. More particularly, this invention relates to a propeller blade for a propfan assembly that includes noise attenuating features.
A gas turbofan engine includes fan blades that are disposed within a nacelle housing. The nacelle housing includes noise attenuating features to quiet select frequencies of noise generated by the rotating fan blades. A propfan includes blades that are not disposed within a duct and can provide performance improvements over ducted fan blades. However, un-ducted propfan blades can be noisy. Without surrounding nacelle mounted noise attenuation structures and features; noise generated by the prop-fan can be greater than is desired.
Accordingly, it is desirable to design and develop a prop-fan assembly with reduced noise emissions.